How NOT to study your bible
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I turn 30 today. I have to say, it has been an honor to be able to contribute to the "Hammer on Anvil" blog. This will be my last post. The brevity of this farewell should give a little hint as to why: I have a full day ahead of me, and I am sitting down to write this as I get the chance. When ministry life gets too hectic, there comes a time to begin trimming some things out to make room for other things. This blog is one of the former. Thank you all who have read these blogs, I hope they have been encouraging and edifying to you. So without further or do...
Let's do this thing one more time!...
Recently, I taught a group of teenagers a couple of lessons on "how NOT to study your bible" and "how to do inductive bible study." I want to give a quick rehash of the first of those two lessons.
Something many churches have lacked greatly in is teaching disciples how to study their bible. We tend to take it for granted that if we just get people to read it every day like they read the newspaper, then they will have everything they need.
I applaud Christians who are in the regular habit of reading their bible every day – feeding on it, learning it, familiarizing themselves with it. Our church takes a tally during Sunday school of who was a daily bible reader every week. It is a good discipline for ALL Christians to be in.
But it helps us to understand what exactly we are doing when we’re reading the bible, because let’s be honest, some pretty crazy teaching and theology have come out of people just “reading their bibles”. One of the things we want to always be able to do is to get at the PLAIN SENSE OF THE TEXT. But not every one reads the same text the same way.
Here’s an example: The Health and Wealth teachers teach that the “good news” of the gospel is that God wants you to be financially and materialistically prosperous. After all, John said (3 John 1:2) “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” They will say “this is just what the bible plainly teaches”. And after all, Jesus says “whatever you ask for in my name, you will receive.” One preacher even said “it’s not what we THINK it says, but what it actually SAYS that counts.” Sounds like a good motto, until someone takes passages like this out of context and changes their meaning from what the author intended to say.
Some churches incorporate the handling of venomous snakes during their worship services, and they do it because Jesus said in Mark 16:18, "They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
So we need to have a way of reading the bible so that we can get to the real, plain meaning of the text, without veering off into some teachings that the bible clearly doesn’t advocate.
Let me talk briefly about some WRONG ways to read the bible.
The Gold Mine Approach – reading the Bible as this vast, cavernous, dark mine, hoping to occasionally stumbles upon a nugget of inspiration. (Ever heard a nugget sermon?) Result: confused reading.
The Hero Approach – reading the Bible as a moral hall of fame that gives us one example after another of heroic spiritual giants to emulate. But many of the heros in the bible end up failing BIG time at some point. And not all of the bible is made up of stories about heroic, faithful men. Result: despairing reading.
The Rules Approach – reading the Bible on the lookout for commands to obey, to make yourself in order to kind of reinforce a sense of personal superiority. Result: Pharisaical reading.
The Artifact Approach – reading the Bible as an ancient document about events in the Middle East a few thousand years ago that are irrelevant to my life today. Result: bored reading.
The Guidebook Approach – reading the Bible as a roadmap to tell me where to work, who to marry, what shampoo to use… like using the bible like a divining rod to find water. Looking frantically for the next “word” from God about what you’re supposed to do next. Have an issue, so you Blindfold-and-pick a passage, hoping the Holy Spirit will lead you to the right verse. (“Which girl do I marry?” Turn to the text that says that Solomon had about 700 wives and 300 concubines. Answer: Marry as many as I can find!) Result of this kind of study: anxious reading. Never knowing what you’re looking for.
The Doctrine Approach – reading the Bible just to stock up on verses to win some theological argument. Result: cold reading.
Here’s what we’re going for in our personal bible study: Biblical Theology. Look for the big picture, how scripture tells the story of God’s redemption of mankind. Ultimately, scripture points to Jesus. (Jesus himself said to the scribes, (John 5:39 ESV) “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me”. So here’s how we should study our bibles: Look for redemption. Look for Jesus. It’s there. Even though things may get bleak and feeling pretty hopeless, Jesus is IN there! Look for him, and see if that doesn’t transform the way you read your bible!
("How NOT to study your bible" adapted and modified from an article from theresurgence.com, titled "Transform Your Bible Reading")
Turning Thirty!!
Let's do this thing one more time!...
Recently, I taught a group of teenagers a couple of lessons on "how NOT to study your bible" and "how to do inductive bible study." I want to give a quick rehash of the first of those two lessons.
Something many churches have lacked greatly in is teaching disciples how to study their bible. We tend to take it for granted that if we just get people to read it every day like they read the newspaper, then they will have everything they need.
I applaud Christians who are in the regular habit of reading their bible every day – feeding on it, learning it, familiarizing themselves with it. Our church takes a tally during Sunday school of who was a daily bible reader every week. It is a good discipline for ALL Christians to be in.
But it helps us to understand what exactly we are doing when we’re reading the bible, because let’s be honest, some pretty crazy teaching and theology have come out of people just “reading their bibles”. One of the things we want to always be able to do is to get at the PLAIN SENSE OF THE TEXT. But not every one reads the same text the same way.
Here’s an example: The Health and Wealth teachers teach that the “good news” of the gospel is that God wants you to be financially and materialistically prosperous. After all, John said (3 John 1:2) “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” They will say “this is just what the bible plainly teaches”. And after all, Jesus says “whatever you ask for in my name, you will receive.” One preacher even said “it’s not what we THINK it says, but what it actually SAYS that counts.” Sounds like a good motto, until someone takes passages like this out of context and changes their meaning from what the author intended to say.
Some churches incorporate the handling of venomous snakes during their worship services, and they do it because Jesus said in Mark 16:18, "They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
So we need to have a way of reading the bible so that we can get to the real, plain meaning of the text, without veering off into some teachings that the bible clearly doesn’t advocate.
Let me talk briefly about some WRONG ways to read the bible.
The Gold Mine Approach – reading the Bible as this vast, cavernous, dark mine, hoping to occasionally stumbles upon a nugget of inspiration. (Ever heard a nugget sermon?) Result: confused reading.
The Hero Approach – reading the Bible as a moral hall of fame that gives us one example after another of heroic spiritual giants to emulate. But many of the heros in the bible end up failing BIG time at some point. And not all of the bible is made up of stories about heroic, faithful men. Result: despairing reading.
The Rules Approach – reading the Bible on the lookout for commands to obey, to make yourself in order to kind of reinforce a sense of personal superiority. Result: Pharisaical reading.
The Artifact Approach – reading the Bible as an ancient document about events in the Middle East a few thousand years ago that are irrelevant to my life today. Result: bored reading.
The Guidebook Approach – reading the Bible as a roadmap to tell me where to work, who to marry, what shampoo to use… like using the bible like a divining rod to find water. Looking frantically for the next “word” from God about what you’re supposed to do next. Have an issue, so you Blindfold-and-pick a passage, hoping the Holy Spirit will lead you to the right verse. (“Which girl do I marry?” Turn to the text that says that Solomon had about 700 wives and 300 concubines. Answer: Marry as many as I can find!) Result of this kind of study: anxious reading. Never knowing what you’re looking for.
The Doctrine Approach – reading the Bible just to stock up on verses to win some theological argument. Result: cold reading.
Here’s what we’re going for in our personal bible study: Biblical Theology. Look for the big picture, how scripture tells the story of God’s redemption of mankind. Ultimately, scripture points to Jesus. (Jesus himself said to the scribes, (John 5:39 ESV) “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me”. So here’s how we should study our bibles: Look for redemption. Look for Jesus. It’s there. Even though things may get bleak and feeling pretty hopeless, Jesus is IN there! Look for him, and see if that doesn’t transform the way you read your bible!
("How NOT to study your bible" adapted and modified from an article from theresurgence.com, titled "Transform Your Bible Reading")
Turning Thirty!!
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